Review of Law Abiding Citizen (2009) by Drew B — 09 Aug 2015

How far would you go; how far could you go, to get justice for your family?

Unsubtly posing the question is composite police procedural/torture-porn, revenge thriller Law Abiding Citizen. Director F. Gary Gray (Friday) brings a depth of meaning to this politically and morally scrambled film.

Gray's pretentious and mismatched style for this genre lacks substance. Attempting to rely on his fondness for aerial shots, flashy cross-cutting and swooping cityscapes the film is contextually confused.

Like the predictable and logic lacking ending, characters are not fully explored. Dazed and unsure of whom to villainise and whom to empathise, the aggravating gapping hole that is back-story is unsuccessfully filled with Grisham-esque legal drivel and hard to swallow self-righteousness.

Stabbed, bound and left helpless, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) watches as his wife and young daughter are brutally raped and murdered during a particularly horrendous home invasion.

Although the perpetrators are quickly apprehended and the seemingly obvious case is brought to court, the full extent of justice does not prevail. Convinced the evidence is shaky and obsessed with maintaining his 95 per cent conviction rate, ambitiously gung-ho Philadelphia ADA Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) offers the worst of the two offenders a plea bargain.

Agreeing to testify against his accomplice, the gleefully cocky and swaggeringly unrepentant lead felon Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte) receives a reduced sentence of merely 3 year whilst his accomplice Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart) is condemned to death. Robbing bereaved father and husband Shelton of the justice he so desires.

Ten years on, the opportunistic Rice (now moving even higher on the political food chain) attends Ames's unusual execution. The standard poisons used for his lethal injection have been tampered with effectively resulting in another murder.

Basking in his short lived freedom, Darby is instantly implicated and his apprehension is ordered. Luckily, Darby receives a phone call aiding in his evasion of capture. However, this assistance is foe not friend, provided by the now vigilante Shelton. Leading Darby directly to his own unspeakably torturous demise.

The gruesome blood-drenched aftermath sees Darby dispatched in the most unpleasant way imaginable. Limbs, eyelids and gentiles severed, diced and sliced with a hacksaw, bolt cutters and a Stanley knife there is only one conclusion for authorities, who could want this kind of retribution?

Willingly captured and held in solitary confinement, Rice begins to realise Shelton is not the simple mild-mannered man he once seemed. Vowing the murderous mayhem will continue if Rice does not comply with his demands Sheldon flips from betrayed victim to unhinged madman.

''I'm going to bring the whole diseased, corrupt temple down on your head''.

Shelton's moral campaign of revenge sees a series of and tactical indiscriminate slaughters asserted against anyone and everyone who failed him and his family. As Rice attempts to prevent the next of Shelton's calculated and infuriating riddles on his quest for retribution, the entire city of Philadelphia becomes hostage.

Rising above similarly-plotted B-movies, Law Abiding Citizen's implicit criticism of the US legal system makes a good attempt to grind the slow turn of America's wheels of justice system to a shuddering halt. Enjoyable to a point, Gray's lack of genre experience is ever present.

Reminiscent of a younger Mel Gibson style, crooked-smile Butler's rumpled and unassuming approach is easy to believe. Sadly however, Foxx's consistent need to over act comes across as disingenuous and overdone leaving viewers pining for the days of Denzel Washington.

In the context of how it would have been cast 10-15 years ago, another slightly disturbing observation was made. The graphic and highly disturbing murders and the way in which they were conducted have a definite torture-porn horror quality to them which shockingly did not upset or even register viewers, just how desensitised are we becoming?

The Verdict: Attempting to balance the blind ladies scales of justice, Law Abiding Citizen barely makes her sway. Perplexing viewers by offering merely well thought out and creative executions this film is no enemy of society as its characters pose.

Published: The Queanbeyan Age.

Date of Publication: 12/02/2010.